Memo on Gender Representation OSCE PA

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MEMORANDUM
To: Vice-President Kari Henriksen
From: Secretary General Roberto Montella
Re: Gender Representation in OSCE PA events, activities and media outreach
material
Date: 08 October 2019
Dear Vice-President Henriksen, Dear Kari,
Thank you very much for raising concerns about gender representation during the Marrakech
meeting of the Standing Committee. I have taken careful note of your advice which I view as
an important contribution in advancing gender mainstreaming and balance.
As I mentioned in my reply to your Standing Committee statement, I have made it a priority of
my tenure as Secretary General to advance gender mainstreaming and balance in the
International Secretariat of the OSCE PA as well as in the Leadership appointments made by
the President upon the advice of the Secretary General.
I will continue to address the gap during the coming years as a number of staff of the
International Secretariat will leave the organisation and as new recruitments will take place.
I would also like to reassure you that we have made some important steps forward during the
past few years.
Since I took over the responsibility of OSCE PA Secretary General in January 2016, increased
comparative balance has for instance been achieved in the nomination of leadership positions
in our Election Observation Missions. I have attached some data which illustrates this. I am
also pleased to note that 5 out of 7 Special Representatives / Rapporteurs appointed in 2019 are
women. In the International Secretariat, where I have a direct responsibility, I have very
recently hired women for positions in the Media Department, Election Department and
appointed a woman in a Senior Management position as Chief of Administration and Finance.
This is work in progress and more needs to be done, I agree.
I am confident that we will continue to improve gender mainstreaming and balance, not least
related to exposure in the media.
OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2019-20
OSCE Alm.del - Bilag 1
Offentligt
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Meanwhile, I have enclosed herewith some statistical data which perhaps helps better identify
the outstanding gaps and how to address them:
- The Panels of the Marrakech Autumn meeting
- Media outreach material
- Election leadership of Election Monitoring Missions since January 2016
- Gender disaggregated data of participation to OSCE PA events in 2018-2019
- Gender disaggregated data of Special Representatives/Rapporteurs appointments since
2016
I hope you find it useful.
In conclusion, let me thank you once again for your valuable contribution. I stand ready to
provide any clarification or additional information regarding the aforementioned data.
I thank you once again for raising these important issues.
Sincerely yours,
Roberto Montella
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1- The Panels of the Marrakech Autumn meeting
The responsibility for the programme of an OSCE PA conference is shared between the
International Secretariat and the host parliament. As such, both the host parliament and the
International Secretariat invited guest speakers.
In light of the fact that the host parliament was initially planning on inviting male only
speakers, the International Secretariat sent an early gender warning at the time of the
Luxembourg session. Here is an excerpt of the message we sent to Rabat:
“I take this opportunity to make a general remark, for the moment there is not yet a single
woman identified as speakers in the different sessions. It is counterproductive to have panels
of men only (a pejoratively termed "manels" in the OSCE) because some participants will
inevitably notice it and criticize it. In any case, be aware that this would require us to identify
moderators (our Vice-Presidents, for example) for sessions 1, 2 and 3. So let's try to feminize
the agenda as much as possible!”
11 July 2019
The message was positively received in Rabat and, as a consequence, several women
speakers were identified by the host parliament:
- Session 1: Ms. Mbarka Bouaida, President of the Guelmim-Oued Noun Region, was
undoubtedly one of the prominent speakers of the conference. Having already
accomplished an outstanding parliamentary and governmental career despite her
young age, she became the first ever women elected at the leadership of a Moroccan
region in July 2019
- Session 3: Dr. Mariam Ait Ahmed, Professor of the University of Ibn Tufail and
International Expert in Religion and Belief. She is the first woman to be awarded the
International Religious Dialogue Prize in 2013
The International Secretariat invited the following women speakers:
- Mediterranean Forum: Ambassador Claudia Wiedey, Head of the Delegation of the
European Union to the Kingdom of Morocco
- Session 2: Ms. Teresa Botella, Deputy Chief of Mission of the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) in Morocco
Last week, Dr. Mariam Ait Ahmed and Ambassador Claudia Wiedey both cancelled their
participation to the conference due to changes in their agendas. Without these last-minute
cancellations, we would have had at least one-woman panellist in every session.
As for the Chairing of the Sessions: Vice-Presidents Allizard, Wicker, de Sena (co-chairing),
Cederfelt (co-chairing) and Henriksen. We had a good gender representation.
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2- Media outreach material
In selecting photos for uploading on Flickr and publicizing the Assembly’s work on our website
and social media platforms, great care is taken to ensure as much gender balance as possible
and to highlight the work of women. Naturally, however, the photos only reflect the reality of
what is taking place in our meetings, our field work and our election observation missions, and
if women are underrepresented in these activities, there will consequently be an imbalance
portrayed in photos as well.
The report on the Luxembourg Annual Session that was recently published is a good example
and contains prominent pictures of women MPs (Elona Gjebrea Hoxha, Margareta Kiener
Nellen, Margareta Cederfelt, Nilza de Sena, Sofio Katsarava, Nahima Lanjri, Doris Barnett,
Hedy Fry, etc).
You will see from the raw figures of participation (following pages of this document) that we
have indeed a problem of representation of women in our meetings and activities. But this is a
problem that is beyond the control of the International Secretariat. We should try to encourage
more and more a gender balance composition of national delegations and members sent to
election observation missions. This will positively affect the media profiling.
However, with this mind, a number of steps can be taken to ensure the best possible optics in
our public affairs material:
1) We can refrain from using photos that only feature men.
2) We can implement a quota system in our photo selection to ensure equal
representation of men and women.
3) We can try to ensure that women are always included in our activities, which in turn
would ensure that they are portrayed in photos.
The latter is obviously the best course of action.
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3- Election leadership of Election Monitoring Missions since January 2016
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4- Gender disaggregated data of participation to OSCE PA events in 2018-2019
Annual Sessions
27th Annual Session of the OSCE PA, Berlin, 7-11 July 2018
MPs
Men. – 182
Women. – 69 (27%)
28th Annual Session of the OSCE PA, Luxembourg, 4-8 July 2019
MPs
Men. – 186
Women. – 69 (27%)
Autumn Meetings
OSCE PA Autumn Meeting 2018, Bishkek, 3-6 October 2018
MPs
Men. – 110
Women. – 33 (23%)
Autumn Meeting of the OSCE PA, Marrakech, 4-6 October 2019
MPs
Men. – 128
Women. – 54 (29%)
Winter Meetings
17th Winter Meeting of the OSCE PA, Vienna, 22-23 February 2018
MPs
Men. – 171
Women. - 61 (26%)
18th Winter Meeting 2019, Vienna, 21-22 February 2019
MPs
Men. – 178
Women. – 61 (25%)
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5- Gender disaggregated data of Special Representatives/Rapporteurs and ad hoc
Committees heads appointments since 2016
2016 :
- Christine Muttonen, Central and Eastern Asia ♀
- Kent Harstedt, Belarus/Eastern Europe ♂
- Kristian Vigenin, South Caucasus ♂
- Illka Kanerva, Mediation ♂
- Filippo Lombardi, Migration ♂
2017 :
- Pascal Allizard, Mediterranean Affairs ♂
- Makis Voridis, Countering Terrorism ♂
2018 :
- Roman Haider, Central and Eastern Asia ♂
- Mark Pritchard, South East Europe ♂
- Nahima Lanjri, Migration ♀
2019:
- Torill Eidsheim, Arctic Issues ♀
- Margareta Cederfelt, Nemtsov enquiry ♀
- Pia Kauma, Civil Society ♀
- Irene Charalambides, Fighting Corruption ♀
- Luca Santolini, Desinformation and Propaganda ♂
- Adid Qayyum Raja, Countering Terrorism ♂
- Lisa Chambers, Countering Terrorism ♀
There were 17 appointments since 2016, 7 of which were women appointees (41%). In 2019,
there were 7 appointments, 5 of which were women appointees (71%).